Electrochemical machining apparatus

ABSTRACT

An electrochemical machining apparatus includes a support assembly, a machining electrode assembly, a tank configured to hold an electrolyte, a workpiece holder positioned in the tank, a movable feed assembly, and a connecting member. The machining electrode assembly includes a first machining electrode and a second machining electrode. The movable feed assembly includes a first feed subassembly and a second feed subassembly. The connecting member is connected to the first feed subassembly and the second feed subassembly. The first machining electrode is coupled with the connecting member, and the second machining electrode is coupled with the second feed subassembly. The second feed subassembly can move with, and relative to, the first feed subassembly. The second machining electrode can slide in the first machining electrode.

FIELD

The subject matter herein generally relates to an electrochemicalmachining apparatus.

BACKGROUND

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a commonly used method of machiningelectrically conductive workpieces with one or more electricallyconductive tools. During processing, a tool electrode is locatedrelative to the workpiece, such that there is a gap between the toolelectrode and the workpiece. The gap is filled with a pressurizedaqueous electrolyte, such as an aqueous sodium nitrate solution. Adirect current electrical potential is established between the toolelectrode and the workpiece to cause controlled depletion of theelectrically conductive workpiece. The depletion action takes place inan electrolytic cell formed by the negatively charged electrode(cathode) and the positively charged workpiece (anode) separated by theflowing electrolyte. The depleted material is removed from the gap bythe flowing electrolyte, which also removes heat formed by the chemicalreaction. The anodic workpiece generally assumes a contour that matchesthat of the cathode tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by wayof example only, with reference to the attached figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an electrochemical machining apparatusaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded, isometric view of a machining electrode assemblyin the electrochemical machining apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an assembled, isometric view of the machining electrodeassembly as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the machining electrode assembly and themovable feed assembly as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the electrochemical machining apparatusin machining process housing.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the electrochemical machining apparatusin a machining process in the housing through a hole.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among thedifferent figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Inaddition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, itwill be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that theembodiments described herein can be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, methods, procedures, and components havenot been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevantfeature being described. Also, the description is not to be consideredas limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawingsare not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts havebeen exaggerated to better illustrate details and features of thepresent disclosure.

Several definitions that apply throughout this disclosure will now bepresented.

The term “coupled” is defined as connected, whether directly orindirectly through intervening components, and is not necessarilylimited to physical connections. The connection can be such that theobjects are permanently connected or releasably connected. The term“substantially” is defined to be essentially conforming to theparticular dimension, shape, or other feature that the term modifies,such that the component need not be exact. For example, substantiallycylindrical means that the object resembles a cylinder, but can have oneor more deviations from a true cylinder. The term “comprising” whenutilized, means “including, but not necessarily limited to”; itspecifically indicates open-ended inclusion or membership in theso-described combination, group, series and the like.

The present disclosure is in relation to an electrochemical machiningmethod and apparatus for a metal housing with a through hole therein.The metal housing can be a housing of an electronic product, such as amobile phone. The through hole can be a sound hole, a headphone jack, atrademark, or other hole.

FIG. 1 illustrates that the electrochemical machining apparatus 100 caninclude a machining electrode assembly 10, a support assembly 20, amovable feed assembly 30, an XY axis driving assembly 40, a tank 50configured to hold an electrolyte, a workpiece holder 60, a connectingmember 70, and a feed controller 80.

The support assembly 20 can include a bracket 21 and a base 22, and thebracket 21 can be mounted substantially perpendicular on the base 22.The base 22 can include a support plane 221.

The movable feed assembly 30 can move in an axis substantiallyperpendicular to the support plane 221, and can include a first feedsubassembly 31 and a second feed subassembly 32. The first feedsubassembly 31 can be mounted on the bracket 21 of the support assembly20, and the second feed subassembly 32 can be mounted on the connectingmember 70.

The XY axis driving assembly 40 can be positioned on the base 22, andcan move in a plane substantially parallel with the support plane 221.The tank 50 can be mounted on the XY driving assembly 40, and theworkpiece holder 60 can be positioned in the tank 50. The workpieceholder 60 can be used to fix a workpiece 90. The tank 50 can be movedwith the XY axis driving assembly 40, and the workpiece 90 can be movedsimultaneously.

The connecting member 70 can be L shaped and can connect the first feedsubassembly 31 and the second feed subassembly 32. The second feedsubassembly 32 can be positioned above the connecting member, and themachining electrode assembly 10 can be positioned below the connectingmember.

As the connecting member 70 can be connected to the movable feedassembly 30, and the machining electrode assembly 10 can be connected tothe connecting member 70, the movable feed assembly 30 can drive themachining electrode assembly 10 to move. The feed controller 80 can beused to control the movement of the movable feed assembly 30.

FIG. 2 illustrates that the machining electrode assembly 10 can includea first machining electrode 11 and a second machining electrode 12. Ashape of the first machining electrode 11 can be matched with a shape ofthe metal housing. In at least one embodiment, the first machiningelectrode 11 can be substantially rectangular and include a hollowportion 112. A shape of the hollow portion 112 can be substantially thesame as the through hole of the metal housing, and the hollow portion112 can be arranged to correspond to the through hole in the metalhousing. The first machining electrode 11 can further include a firstmachining surface 111.

The second machining electrode 12 can include a bottom portion (notlabeled) and a protrusion portion (not labeled) protruding out of thebottom portion. The protrusion portion can have a shape matching that ofthe hollow portion 112. The protrusion portion of the second machiningelectrode 12 can include a second machining surface 121. A shape of thesecond machining surface 121 can be substantially that of a shape of thehollow portion 112. In at least one embodiment, the hollow portion 112and the protrusion portion of the second machining electrode 12 can betriple prism shaped. In other embodiments, the hollow portion 112 andthe protrusion portion of the second machining electrode 12 can haveother shapes as long as the shape is substantially same as that of thethrough hole in the metal housing.

FIG. 3 illustrates that the second machining electrode 12 can bepartially positioned in the hollow portion 112 and slidable into thefirst machining electrode 11. The first machining surface 111 and thesecond machining surface 121 can cooperatively form a cavity machiningsurface 113 when the first machining surface 111 is coplanar with thesecond machining surface 121.

FIG. 4 illustrates that the connecting member 70 can be L shaped and caninclude a vertical part 71 and a horizontal part 72. The horizontal part72 can define a via hole 73 in the central portion thereof. The via hole73 can be substantially circular, rectangular, or other shape.

The vertical part 71 can be connected to the horizontal part 72. Thesecond feed subassembly 32 can include an output shaft 321. The secondfeed subassembly 32 can be mounted above the horizontal part 72, and theoutput shaft 321 can pass through the via hole 73 and extend verticallyto the horizontal part 72. As the connecting member 70 can connect thefirst feed subassembly 31 and the second feed subassembly 32, the firstfeed subassembly 31 can drive the second feed subassembly 32 to move.Furthermore, the feed controller 80 can drive the first feed subassembly31 and/or the second feed subassembly 32 to move along a directionperpendicular to the base 22. As a result, the second feed subassembly32 can move with, and relative to, the first feed subassembly 31. Thefirst feed subassembly 31 and the second feed subassembly 32 can be acombination of stepped motor and ball-screw, or a voice coil motorlinear actuator. In other embodiments, the first feed subassembly 31 andthe second feed subassembly 32 can be other linear motion mechanismswith high precision.

The first machining electrode 11 can be connected to the horizontalportion 72 by a plurality of screw bolts 74, and the output shaft 321can be positioned to correspond to the hollow portion 112 of the firstmachining electrode 11. The first machining surface 111 can besubstantially parallel to the horizontal part 72 of the connectingmember 70.

One end of the second machining electrode 12 can be connected to theoutput shaft 321 of the second feed subassembly 32, and the other endcan slide in the hollow portion 112 of the first machining electrode 11.

As the second feed subassembly 32 can move relative to the firstsubassembly 31, the second machining electrode 12 coupled to the secondfeed subassembly 32 can move relative to the first machining electrode11 coupled with the first subassembly 31. When the first machiningsurface 111 is coplanar with the second machining surface 121, thecavity machining surface 113 can be used to form the housing of theworkpiece 90. When the second machining surface 121 is protruding out ofthe first machining surface 111, the second machining surface 121 can beused to form the through hole of the workpiece 90.

FIG. 5 illustrates the electrochemical machining process applied to themetal housing. The electrochemical machining method can include thesteps as follows. Firstly, the workpiece 90 can be fixed to theworkpiece holder 60, and the XY axis driving assembly 40 can be moved,whereby the workpiece 90 can be positioned directly facing the machiningelectrode 10.

The second feed subassembly 32 can be moved, and the second machiningelectrode 12 can be moved relative to the first machining electrode 11,thereby the second machining surface 112 can be made coplanar with thefirst machining surface 111 to form the cavity machining surface 113.Then, the first feed subassembly 31 can be moved to adjust the machininggap between the workpiece 90 and the machining electrode assembly 10,and the workpiece 90 is machined to be a cavity for use as a housing.

After that, the first feed subassembly 31 can be moved upward, and themachining electrode 10 can be lifted to the initial position.

Then, the second feed subassembly 32 can be moved downward, whereby thesecond machining electrode 12 can protrude out of the first machiningelectrode 11.

The first feed subassembly 31 can be moved downward, and the workpiece90 can be machined by the second machining electrode 12 to form thethrough hole in the housing.

After the through hole is made, the first feed subassembly 31 can bemoved upward, and the machining electrode assembly 10 can be lifted.Then, the workpiece 90 can be removed from the workpiece holder 60. Theworkpiece 90 can be the housing with the through hole therein.

As the machining electrode assembly 10 includes a first machiningelectrode 11 and a second machining electrode 12, the electrochemicalmachining apparatus 100 can be used continuously to form the housing andthe through hole, and there is no need to replace the machiningelectrode. The machining method can reduce manufacturing cost andimprove machining efficiency.

The embodiments shown and described above are only examples. Manydetails are often found in the art such as the other features of anelectrochemical machining apparatus. Therefore, many such details areneither shown nor described. Even though numerous characteristics andadvantages of the present technology have been set forth in theforegoing description, together with details of the structure andfunction of the present disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only,and changes may be made in the detail, especially in matters of shape,size, and arrangement of the parts within the principles of the presentdisclosure, up to and including the full extent established by the broadgeneral meaning of the terms used in the claims. It will therefore beappreciated that the embodiments described above may be modified withinthe scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrochemical machining apparatuscomprising: a support assembly having a support plane; a machiningelectrode assembly having a first machining electrode and a secondmachining electrode; a tank positioned on the support plane of thesupport assembly; a workpiece holder positionable within the tank; and amovable feed assembly having a first feed subassembly and a second feedsubassembly with an output shaft; and a connecting member connecting thefirst feed subassembly and the second feed subassembly; wherein, themovable feed assembly is movable in an axis substantially perpendicularto the support plane of the support assembly; wherein, the firstmachining electrode is connected to the connecting member and the secondmachining electrode is connected to the second feed subassembly outputshaft; wherein, the second feed subassembly is movable with, andrelative to, the first feed subassembly; and wherein, the secondmachining electrode is slidable into the first machining electrode. 2.The electrochemical machining apparatus of claim 1, wherein the firstmachining electrode defines a hollow portion, and the second machiningelectrode is slidable in the hollow portion.
 3. The electrochemicalmachining apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first machining electrodeincludes a first machining surface, and the second machining electrodeincludes a second machining surface; a shape of the second machiningsurface is substantially the same as the hollow portion.
 4. Theelectrochemical machining apparatus of claim 3, wherein the firstmachining surface is coplanar with the second machining surface to forma cavity machining surface.
 5. The electrochemical machining apparatusof claim 3, wherein the second machining surface protrudes out of thefirst machining surface.
 6. The electrochemical machining apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the first machining electrode is substantiallyrectangular.
 7. The electrochemical machining apparatus of claim 1,wherein the electrochemical machining apparatus further comprises an XYaxis driving assembly mounted on the support assembly; the XY axisdriving assembly is movable in a plane substantially parallel with thesupport plane, and the tank is mounted on the XY axis driving assembly.8. The electrochemical machining apparatus of claim 1, wherein theelectrochemical machining apparatus further comprises a feed controllerused to drive the first feed subassembly and the second subassembly. 9.The electrochemical machining apparatus of claim 1, wherein theconnecting member comprises a vertical part and a horizontal part, andthe horizontal part defines a via hole.
 10. The electrochemicalmachining apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second feed subassembly ismounted on the horizontal part and partially passes through the viahole.
 11. The electrochemical machining apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe support subassembly includes a bracket and a base; the bracket issubstantially perpendicular to the base, and the first feed subassemblyis coupled to the bracket.